Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory (614)
Mission Statement
To explore and understand the Earth's hydrosphere and biosphere, and the linkages between the oceans, land, atmosphere and life on Earth.
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This mission supports NASA and the nation by conceiving, developing, and implementing cutting-edge observations from space to enable community-wide climate, hydrologic and Biospheric research that addresses issues of importance to society. Our mission defines the multiple roles that the HBSL serves as a federal research and development organization. The Laboratory's water cycle on Earth and Terrestrial Ecosystems foci are closely aligned with NASA's mission to "understand and protect our home planet" and to "improve life here". As a part of our mission, we accept the challenge of the President's vision of exploration as we apply our expertise "to explore the universe and search for life". |
Free Public Presentations By Leading NASA Scientists
Made Possible by The Library of Congress and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Partnership
Blogs & Features
Greenland Summit Blog This research is taking place at Summit Station, Greenland from November 2008 to mid-February 2009. Summit is an National Science Foundation (NSF) supported station on the Greenland Ice Sheet that houses around 40 scientist and staff in the summer months and 4 in the winter. The web address for the station, that includes a webcam link, is www.summitcamp.org. This station is located where the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core was taken.
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PIG Ice Shelf Blog This project’s official title is "Ocean-Ice Interaction in the Amundsen Sea: the Keystone to Ice-Sheet Stability". A real mouthful, but it captures the essence of what we intend to do, where we will do it and why we feel it is important to do it. Various other measurements have captured the West Antarctic ice sheet changing very rapidly in the region where it flows into the Amundsen Sea, one of the sectors of the Southern Ocean. The spatial pattern strongly suggests that the cause of this change is weaker ice shelves, the floating apron of ice that fringe the perimeter of the ice sheet. Our hypothesis is that warm water is melting the undersides of these ice shelves decreasing the "back pressure" from the ice shelves to help hold the ice sheet. Less backpressure means the ice sheet can flow faster. Faster flow-smaller ice sheet-higher sea levels-slow motion coastal flooding worldwide.
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Project Highlights
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NPOESS Preparatory Project
National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System + Visit site |
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Contact Us
Questions or Comments
General inquiries about the scientific programs at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center may be directed to the Center Public Affairs office at 1.301.286.8955
> PAO's Questions and Comments Page
Calendar
Events
Terrestrial Water Cycle Seminar: Dr. Zhichang Guo
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Title and abstract coming soon.…
Science Highlights
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
Funding Opportunities
Click here for a full listing and related resources (Updated August 29, 2008)
- NASA Official: Rosa Kao
- Webmaster: Paul Przyborski
- Page Last Updated: November 19, 2009